Two of China's leading online education companies, backed by a who's-who of top venture capital firms, are embroiled in an ugly public relations fight involving pornography, alleged hacking and threatened legal action. The episode has caused an outcry from investors and industry participants, with the latest being Baidu Inc., an investor and former parent of one company, releasing a statement with harsh words for all involved. The facts are still unclear, yet it seems certain that both firms are destined to lose their reputation, credibility and perhaps their valuations.

The spat began August 9, when an influential Weibo account known for posting sensational content released numerous screenshots showing improper and potentially pornographic text content on an education mobile app operated by Yuantiku, which is backed by A-list investors including IDG Capital, Matrix Partners, CMC Capital, New Horizon, Tencent and Warburg Pincus. The next day an education TV station aired a program exposing the same improper content. The timing of the incident is critical, as China is in the midst of a campaign to clean up its Internet. Pornographic content of any kind could lead to harsh penalties.

Yuantiku's engineers tried to figure out how the improper content got into its platform, as its software should have spotted and deleted it. After researching the IP addresses of the users posting the improper content, Yuantiku came to believe the content came from the offices of its chief rival, Zuoyebang. In Yuantiku's opinion, the staff at Zuoyebang, which is backed by Sequoia Capital, Legend Capital, GGV Capital and Tigal Global, had posted the improper content as part of a smear campaign.

Things came to a head on the morning of August 14, when Zuoyebang announced a US$150 million series C financing round. That afternoon, Yuantiku held its own press conference, telling the media that it had been set up by rival Zuoyebang and that it had already alerted the police. Yuantiku's vice president Li Jin posted on his WeChat account that day: "We decided to let everyone know about this disgusting incidentto let them know that one must take responsibilities for doing evil."

Zuoyebang quickly fired back, releasing a statement saying: "Our peer's statements are against the factsWe do not want to engage in verbal disputes. We have kept all evidence and are prepared to protect our rights via legal means to fight against defamation from others."

Yesterday, Baidu, formerly the parent company and a current shareholder of Zuoyebang, jumped into the fray, issuing a statement with harsh messages for both companies. Baidu is particularly sensitive as all of Yuantiku's accusations use term Baidu Zuoyebang, instead of Zuoyebang, making it appear that Zuoyebang is a Baidu affiliated entity.

"Zuoyebang is an independent brand and independent corporate entity. There is no such brand or entity as Baidu Zuoyebang. As an investor in Zuoyebang, Baidu does not participate in the daily operations of ZuoyebangWe have not been a part of the dispute between Zuoyebang and Yuantikubut Yuantiku has used the Baidu brand in all of its published materials. We have collected evidence and submitted a law suit against the company and all related parties," Baidu said in the statement.

As for Zuoyebang, Baidu said it has asked the company to fully investigate the matter and advised the company to strengthen its integrity. If the contend did come from the company's servers, it should punish related staff accordingly.

"As educators, you must first make yourself a role model. This type of public relations battle in the Internet education sector and the fact that company executives speak with total disregard for facts and sometimes with obscene language are disappointing the whole industry. This has also let down the students and parents, failing to gain their trust. It is hurting the healthy development of the sector," Baidu said in the statement.

This view has been widely echoed by other observers. One anonymous investor said "We felt very saddened by this. The market has not really reached the stage where it's live-or-die for participating players. Some companies are focusing on the wrong place. This will harm these companies and the whole industry, because if students and parents lose confidence in them, they will also lose confidence in the sector."

Another online education executive commented that "This scandal has far exceeded regular competitive behavior. The target this time are the students and the users, which is truly terrible for the growth of online education."

Zuoyebang and Yuansouti, operated by Yuantiku and the main entity engaged in the dispute, are the top two K12 education mobile app in China. Zuoyebang operates a K-12 homework Q&A and online community platform, while Yuansouti allows users take a picture of a particular problem and submit it to its database for immediate answers and help. Both companies have raised financing of around a quarter billion U.S. dollars.

As of the end of July, Zuoyebang and Yuansouti were ranked as the first and second most actively used android K12 apps in China. Zuoyebang's weekly active users took around 2.1% of total active users for this type of app in China, while Yuansouti has a 0.6% share, according to data from Cheetah.

Education mobile apps were the fastest growing sector in the mobile Internet in China. As of June, education mobile apps grew 22.4% year-on-year, second only to food delivery apps. But competition in the sector is fierce, with around 70% of the 8,000 online education firms in China suffering losses, according to an online education survey.

The three parties, including Baidu, have threatened each other with lawsuits. Few outsiders know what really happened. As legal documents get released if the lawsuits do materialize, we will have a better idea of the facts. But one thing is for sure, this school yard brawl will hurt all involved.

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Ugly Fight Between Chinese Online Education Firms Enrages Investors - China Money Network

MOSCOW, Aug. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --BeOne, the Russian blockchain start-up is revolutionizing online education and course delivery by creating a distributed ledger backed platform. The BeOne platform is designed to offer a range of courses to users with different educational backgrounds in various domains. The platform, currently undergoing closed alpha testing has announced the launch of its ICO campaign to raise the necessary funds to build a comprehensive finished product.

Users on BeOne can teach or learn a wide array of skills, starting from cooking to photography. The platform is designed keeping the needs of students and instructors in mind. The platform makes it easier for instructors to create and share informative education content of various types at a fraction of the cost while earning better returns than any other online course platform out there. Meanwhile, users/students can lay their hands upon exhaustive course content for a small fee.

BeOne users can take part in the webinars hosted on the platforms, avail one-on-one consultations and get immediate answers to their queries. When it comes to courses, they can just purchase a particular module of significance based on their needs instead of paying for the whole course. The platform also allows users to search for like-minded people and join interest groups to learn together. For instructors and course creators, BeOne has a broad range of monetization models that charge commission not higher than 10%, which is the least in the industry.

The BeOne ICOis set to go live on Aug. 28, 2017, at 12:00 (MSK). During the month-long crowdsale, investors can purchase the platform's tokens by depositing BTC, ETH, LTC or DASH. The BeOne tokens serve as the mode of transactions on the platform. The platform has set a maximum cap of 10 million tokens out of which 9 million will be available for purchase during the crowdsale.

BeOne has an attractive bonus option in place for early bird investors. Those investing during the first three hours of the ICO stand to gain a 50% discount on the token purchase. Following which, the tokens will be made available at a 20% discount for the next 72 hours.

Out of all the funds raised during the ICO, BeOne will allocate 50% for marketing, 20% for development, 20% for onboarding instructors and the rest 10% for operating expenses. More information about the education platform and the ICO is available on the company's website.

About BeOne

Based out of Russia, BeOne is an innovative decentralized online learning platform that enables users to make money by sharing skills, knowledge, and experience. The company is striving to make online educational resources more affordable and readily accessible to people of all age groups across various domains.

Learn more about BeOne at https://be-one.coAccess BeOne whitepaper at https://be-one.co/wp/whitepaper_eng.pdfBeOne on Twitter https://twitter.com/beone_coBeOne of Facebook https://www.facebook.com/beonecoJoin BeOne Telegram Channel at https://t.me/beoneco

Media Contact

Contact Name:Kristina SmirnovaContact Email: rel="nofollow">kristina@be-one.coLocation:Moscow, Russia

BeOne is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

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China-focused venture capital firm H Capital has led a US150 million series C round in Zuoyebang, a K-12 online education spin-off from Baidu Inc.

It marks the largest funding round in the K-12 online education industry. Tiger Global Management LLC., Sequoia Capital, Legend Capital, GGV Capital and Xianghe Capital also participated in the round, according to a company announcement.

"I have been focusing on online education industry, and I believe the combination of education and Internet technology will create great companies," said Chen Xiaohong, founder at H Capital. "Zuoyebang has made significant developments in the past two years, and I believe they have the potential to grow in the future."

In September 2015, Baidu spun off its online education platform Zuoyebang as part of the search engine giant's strategy to make its various new businesses independent and open them to outside investors. The platform currently has nearly 60 million monthly active users, and have over 70% market share in the K12 online education market.

The company focus on providing assistance to K-12 students on their homework, including problem search, one-on-one Q&A, teacher live streaming videos and homework evaluation.

Zuoyebang previously raised a US$60 million series B round from GGV, Sequoia and Legend Capital last September. One year prior, it also received a US$25 million series A round from Sequoia and Legend Capital. The company plans to use the latest proceeds to improve its products and build up its team.

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H Capital Leads $150M Round In Chinese K12 Online Education ... - China Money Network

Ingenico Group, which has the worlds largest payment acceptance network, has singled out online skill-based games and education as new growth engines to better tap Chinas cross-border electronic payment business.

The company, a partner with Alibaba Group to help the Chinese internet giant expand the presence of Alipays mobile wallet in Europe, said it would continue to drive China-related businesses in the travel and retail sectors.

We see growth area in skill gaming which has largely remained domestic (business in China) until now, said Nick Tubb, Asia-Pacific chief of Ingenico ePayments. There are certainly opportunities here for us to pursue further growth of our businesses.

He added that online education would likely become another new bright spot in cross-border e-payment.

Last year, Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba, signed a partnership with Ingenico, paving the way for hundreds of European retailers to accept payment by users of the mobile wallet app.

Chinese shoppers are able to use the mobile wallet to complete their transactions at hundreds of physical stores within Ingenicos processing platform when travelling abroad.

Alipay targets Chinese tourists with US payment deals

Ingenico also manages cross-border electronic transactions for Alipay when mainland shoppers purchase foreign goods via e-commerce.

The industry is so dynamic that you never know when the disruptions can change the business landscape, Tubb said, adding that Ingenico is taking an open attitude toward future business opportunities in China.

The total value of Chinas cross-border e-commerce, including both imports and exports, is expected to hit 7.5 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion) in 2017, up 19 per cent from a year ago, according to iiMedia Research.

The industry is so dynamic that you never know when the disruptions can change the business landscape

Nick Tubb, Ingenico

In the past 10 years, the number of Chinese online transactions processed annually by Ingenico has grown by a factor of 180, a result of soaring cross-border e-commerce in China.

Tubb predicted cross-border e-payment by Chinese people would increase at an annualised rate of 20 per cent to 25 per cent in the coming years.

Chinas e-sports businesses, driven by peoples obsession with games, have created a mammoth market for online game developers.

About 560 million people, or 70 per cent of the countrys internet population, play games, according to market intelligence firm Newzoo.

China makes up 57 per cent of the global e-sports audience, according to an IHS Markit research report.

Last year, about 3.5 billion hours of e-sports videos were viewed by Chinese audience and 11.1 billion e-sports streams were delivered to them.

But few mainland people engage in online games across the border.

Alipay is also expanding its mobile payment application service into the United States through partnerships with payment processors First Data and Verifone.

Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

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Ingenico to tap Chinese cross-border spending on online games and education - South China Morning Post

WASHINGTON | Among the paintings and photographs that decorate Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sunlit, spacious office is the framed roll call from her Senate confirmation. Its a stark reminder of the bruising process that spurred angry protests, some ridicule and required the vice presidents tie-breaking yes vote.

Six months on the job, DeVos is no less divisive.

Critics see her as hostile to public education and indifferent to civil rights, citing her impassioned push for school choice and her signing off on the repeal of some protections for LGBT students.

Conservatives wish she had been less polarizing and more effective in promoting her agenda, noting that the departments budget requests are stalled in Congress and no tangible school choice plan has emerged.

DeVos is undeterred.

We have seen decades of top-down mandated approaches that protect a system at the expense of individual students, DeVos told The Associated Press. I am for individual students. I want each of them to have an opportunity to go to a school that works for them.

In her first comprehensive sit-down interview with a national media outlet since taking office, DeVos touched on some of the most pressing issues in K-12 and higher education.

She said Washington has a role to set a tone and encourage states to adopt choice programs without enacting a big new federal program thats going to require a lot of administration. At the same time, she confirmed that a federal tax-credit voucher program was under consideration as part of a tax overhaul. Its certainly part of our discussion, DeVos said.

DeVos, 59, appeared confident, but reserved during the 30-minute interview last week in her office, where photographs of her children and grandchildren and drawings and letters from young students are prominent. Large windows overlook the Capitol. Across the street, visitors lined up outside the National Air and Space Museum, which DeVos toured this year with Ivanka Trump to promote science and engineering among girls.

DeVos defended her decision to rewrite Obama-era rules intended to protect students against being deceived by vocational nondegree programs, saying that the last administration really stepped much more heavily into areas that it should not.

Liberals accuse DeVos of looking out for the interests of for-profit schools, and they point to Trump University, the presidents for-profit school that was sued for fraud. Supporters say the Obama regulations unfairly targeted for-profits and failed to track students long-term careers.

The decision by the departments of Education and Justice to roll back rules allowing transgender students to use school restrooms of their choice enraged civil rights advocates, who said already vulnerable children could face even more harassment and bullying. Conservatives saw DeVos fulfilling a promise to return control over education issues to states, cities, school districts and parents.

We really believe that states are the best laboratories of democracy on many fronts, DeVos said.

On the issue of school choice, DeVos was resolute. Another major flashpoint: charter schools, which are publicly funded but usually independently operated, and voucher programs that help families cover tuition at private schools. Theyre often criticized for a lack of transparency, and studies about their effectiveness have produced mixed results. DeVos disagrees.

I think the first line of accountability is frankly with the parents, she said. When parents are choosing school they are proactively making that choice.

For DeVos, who spent more than two decades promoting charter schools in her home state of Michigan, the closure of some low-performing charters was evidence of accountability. At the same time, there have been zero traditional public schools closed in Michigan for performance and I think thats a problem, she said.

DeVos got off to a rocky start in the Trump Cabinet.

She was satirized for some of her gaffes during the confirmation hearing, such as saying that guns are needed in schools to protect students from grizzly bears. Teacher unions accused her of seeking to privatize public education. Parents and teachers jammed Congress phone lines to oppose her nomination.

It took Vice President Mike Pences historic vote the first by a vice president to break a 50-50 tie on a Cabinet nomination to secure her position after two Republican senators defected.

DeVos is still sometimes met with protesters at public events, and her security detail has been bolstered at an additional cost of $7.8 million.

But DeVos isnt retreating.

She actively advocates for school choicce, once comparing education to ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, and saying that parents, like riders, need options. Of the 17 K-12 schools that she has visited so far, only seven were traditional public schools. DeVos didnt attend public school herself or send her children to a public school.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a recent speech that DeVos was a public school denier and quipped that DeVos can start talking about school choice even in reply to a simple greeting.

Conservatives say she may have oversold.

She has made things harder for herself by acting as the secretary for school choice instead of the secretary of education, said Mike Petrilli, president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute. She has missed the opportunity to make it clear that she wants to see all schools succeed.

Moderates are upset.

I have feared that in trying to rush in with a simplified notion of choice that she will love charters to death, said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a pro-charter group. At this point, six months in, I dont see any evidence that we are farther along on helping with achievement, equity, with moving the country forward.

Asked to name some of the strengths of public schools that she has observed in her job, DeVos said only that she is a very strong supporter of public schools.

But we also need to encourage schools, public schools that are doing a great job to not rest on their laurels but to continue to improve because unless youre constantly oriented around continuous improvement and excellence we know that theres going to be reversion to something less than that, she added.

DeVos proposal of a $9 billion, or 13.5 percent, cut to the education budget angered the left, but also drew criticism from top Republicans. The $20 billion school choice program that President Donald Trump promised during his campaign has so far failed to materialize. Last month, the House rejected his administrations plans for a $250 million private voucher program and a $1 billion in public school choice.

Petrilli said that was partly due to DeVos divisive rhetoric and problems filling senior positions at the department, as well as controversies plaguing the White House. Anyone in her position would be having a difficult time because of her boss, Petrilli said.

What grade should appear on DeVos report card after her first six months in office?

A very incomplete, said Patrick McGuinn, a professor of political science and education at Drew University.

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After 6 months on job, education chief still highly divisive - Online Athens

August 09, 2017

As online nursing education increases in popularity, researchers are finding institutional procedures may not be keeping up.

It is possible that institutional policies and practices that address support, resource allocation and faculty teaching have not kept pace with the rapid growth of online education, said Elizabeth Gazza, Ph.D., RN, associate professor at University of North Carolina Wilmington.

In a survey of 2,175 higher education faculty, 49% thought their institution did not provide enough technical support, and 48% thought they did not provide adequate support for course creation.

Gazza states online nursing education is not better or worse; it is just different.

Her research showed online instructors strived for the back-and-forth interaction necessary for teaching. In an online setting, teachers need to be available to students more frequently because students can work at virtually anytime.

Typically, instructors' workloads may be determined by credit hours. In online teaching, a better measure is class size. Institutions should evaluate this when scheduling faculty, along with workload allocation and compensation. A majority of study participants found online teaching takes longer than in-person teaching.

Results of Gazza's study appeared in the Journal of Nursing Education in June.

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Institutional procedures trail online education, study finds - McKnight's Long Term Care News

August 9, 2017

By: Adventist Review Staff

A couple with extensive experience in educating families was recently awarded the 2017 Spalding Medallion, during the Adventist Conference on Family Research and Practice held at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States. Pattiejean and Jeffrey Brown were presented the Arthur & Maud Spalding Medallion, the highest honor given by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Family Ministries, on July 22.

Jeff and Pattiejean have given outstanding leadership in Family Ministries on several continents for over two decades, as directors, trainers, workshop facilitators and authors of several books, wrote General Conference Family Ministries director Willie Oliver in sharing the news with Adventist Review. Our church has stronger and healthier families because of their intentional efforts.

Our church has stronger and healthier families because of their intentional efforts

Intertwined in Service

Pattiejean (ne McMahon) was born in Bermuda and graduated from Atlantic Union College (BA Liberal Arts, BSc Behavioral Science). Jeffrey was born in England, of Jamaican parents, and graduated from Newbold College (BA) and Andrews University (MDiv, Ph.D. Religious Education, family life and counseling emphasis.)

Pattiejean served as Bermuda Conference Family Ministries Assistant and director of Ministerial Spouses. She is now employed with the General Conference Human Relations department. Jeffrey pastored in Canada, served as Bermuda Conference president and family ministries director, director of the Bradford Cleveland Brooks Leadership Center at Oakwood University, and editor of Family Life. He now serves as associate editor of Ministry and associate secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association, in Silver Springs, Maryland, United States.

The Browns also have twelve years overseas experience. Pattiejean worked in England as a long-term care worker. Jeffrey served in England as pastor, counselor, and director of Pastoral Studies at Adventist-operated Newbold College.

Pattiejean has authored What On Earth Am I Doing? Leadership Lessons for Clergy Spouses,and Jeffrey has authored Single and Gifted. Together they have authored Total Marriage, A Guide To Parenting, and The Love Seasons. They are blessed with two children, Kristle (MA mental health counseling, Florida) and Jamel (MBA, California).

They are certified with Prepare/Enrich and Marriage Commitment Leadership from John and Millie Youngberg, their mentors in family life education. Jeffrey is also a Certified Family Life Educator. They have been privileged to minister in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

The Spalding Medallion

Inaugurated in 1990 by then General Conference Directors of Family Ministries Karen and Ron Flowers, the Arthur & Maud Spalding Medallion was named after the first couple to lead Family Ministries in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

On October 8, 1919, the General Conference Committee created the Home Commission which became operative in 1922 with Arthur W. Spalding as director, who worked in this capacity with his wife Maud, until 1941. Spalding created literature for the education of the entire family. A series of leaflets were produced dealing with different phases of home life entitled, The Christian Home Series. Arthur W. Spalding wrote the lessons and Maud Spalding graded them.

In 1975, at the General Conference Session held in Vienna, Austria, Delmer, and Betty Holbrook were elected directors of the Home and Family Service. Holbrook, who served as director of Family Ministries (the Home and Family Service) with his wife Betty from 1975-1982, was the first recipient of the award. Including the Browns, a total of 43 individuals have been honored with the medallion.

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Couple Honored for Their Contributions to Family Education - Adventist Review

If any American university might be positioned to begin a new online program all by itself, Harvard University -- with its world-famous brand, many-billion-dollar endowment and founding relationship with the online course provider edX -- might be it. But the university announced Monday that three of its schools would create a new business analytics certificate program with 2U, the online program management company.

A collaboration between 2U and professors at the Harvard Business School, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the department of statistics in Harvard's main college, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the program will teach students how to leverage data and analytics to drive business growth.

Aimed at executives in full-time work, the program will be delivered through 2Us online platform and will feature live, seminar-style classes with Harvard faculty members. The program will cost around $50,000 for three semesters, with an estimated time requirement of 10 hours per week.

More Coverage of Digital LearningIf these issues interest you,please check out Inside Higher Ed'snew weekly newsletter, InsideDigital Learning, publishedevery Wednesday. Readmore here.

The Harvard Business School already offers certificate programs through its online education platform, HBx. But Karim Lakhani, a professor of business administration at the business school, said the university had decided to work with 2U rather than developing the program completely in-house, because of the company's strong technological capability and experience -- particularly in incorporating "live" aspects of online programs.

Chip Paucek, CEO of 2U, said the technology 2U can offer universities goes far beyond just what the student sees. The company can use analytics to predict things such as enrollment and completion of courses, in addition to making programs widely accessible, and securing content from cyberattack.

Aside from technology, 2U also offers up-front money. The company invests heavily in each of its partnerships, said Paucek, typically spending between $5million and $10million in the first few years. Each 2U partnership lasts a minimum of 10years to give the company time to recoup its investment from a significant slice of the student enrollment fees. Paucek said the partnership with Harvard was a high point in the companys 10-year history, and that the company was honored to be a brand ambassador for one of the best-known brands in the world.

Deciding to work with 2U was not a trivial decision for Harvard, said Paucek, adding that university officials were clear they would not commit to it if it was not one of the worlds best programs. Conversations about working together began around five years ago, according to Paucek. But it was not until two years ago that talks centered specifically on creating a business analytics program.

Lakhani acknowledged that Harvard has many resources at its disposal, including its existing technology platforms edX (which it founded with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and HBx, the business school's adapted platform. But while the university has used these platforms mostly to experiment with asynchronous massive open online courses, Harvard was interested in "another exploration in this space" and other ways to "reconceptualize the [educational] delivery model," Lakhani said.

Looking around for ways to do that, he said, led the university to 2U. "This experiment allows us to learn to say, if in fact we have a technology provider that will take on the burdens of infrastructure, and that has experience with running this type of program, we should take advantage of their expertise," he said.

Adapting to Explore an Emergent Field

Both 2U and Harvard recognized the potential in creating a program in business analytics. Data analytics has moved from the periphery to the center, said Lakhani. Its a shift thats now affecting every industry. We want our students to be able to understand that shift and develop the skills to take advantage of it. The program is intrinsically multidisciplinary, Lakhani said, and built on partnerships already founded at the university as part of President Drew Gilpin Fausts long-term ambition to break down barriers between Harvard schools.

When the first cohort of 60 or so students begins the program in March 2018, they will be exposed to the latest research in the field from Harvards world-leading faculty. It is the Harvard facultys expertise that Lakhani hopes will separate Harvards business analytics offering from programs offered by universities such as Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Anne Trumbore, senior director of Wharton Online, said that her universitys business analytics specialization, offered through the online learning platform Coursera, was one of the universitys most popular. Im thrilled that Harvard is entering this space, said Trumbore, as theres a real demand in this area.

Paul Krause, CEO of eCornell, the university's internal provider of digital learning, agreed that there was high demand for business analytics programs but expressed surprise at the news of Harvards partnership with 2U.

OPMs usually partner with universities because they can offer capital or expertise that the university doesn't have, Krause said. "Harvard already has the capital and the expertise.

The deal between Harvard and 2U comes as some analysts and observers question whether universities will (and should) continue to pay outside companies to take their programs online. (A highly critical report Monday questioned whether such arrangements might undermine public higher education.)

Paucek of 2U said that the new arrangement offers an emphatic yes to that question, from one of the highest-profile universities in the world. "It's great for us to be able to show," he said, "that even Harvard is interested in what 2U can offer."

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Harvard Goes Outside to Go Online - Inside Higher Ed

WASHINGTON | Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Wednesday distanced herself from her comment earlier this year about the nations historically black colleges and universities being pioneers of school choice, saying that in the past there were no choices for African-Americans in higher education.

When I talked about it being a pioneer in choice it was because I acknowledge that racism was rampant and there were no choices, DeVos said in an interview with The Associated Press in her office at the Education Department. These HBCUs provided choices for black students that they didnt have.

DeVos, who marks six months in office this week, alienated many African-Americans in February when she described historically black colleges as real pioneers when it comes to school choice. In May, she was booed while attending the commencement ceremony at a historically black college in Florida.

My intention was to say they were pioneering on behalf of students that didnt have another choice. This was their only choice, DeVos said. At the same time I should have decried much more forcefully the ravages of racism in this country.

The Trump administration and DeVos have come under criticism from civil rights advocates for undoing some civil rights protections, including rescinding Obama-era federal guidance that instructed schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice and President Donald Trump calling for banning transgender individuals from serving in the military.

DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor and long-standing school choice activist from Michigan, said that she has spent her career campaigning on behalf of minority children.

Thats where my heart has been for three decades is to really empower and allow all families the same kind of opportunities Ive had for my kids, she said.

At the same time, DeVos acknowledged that she could have done more to reach out to African-American communities around the country to make her position more clear.

Ive had these conversations with some of the African-American organizations that represent higher education, but probably not as explicitly as I am right now, DeVos said.

The NAACP and the National Association For Equal Opportunity in Higher Education did not return requests for comment about DeVos remarks.

The issue of minorities access to higher education remains controversial today. The Justice Department said last week it would conduct an inquiry into how race influences admissions at Harvard University after a coalition of more than 60 Asian-American groups brought a complaint alleging the school uses race as a factor in admissions and discriminates against Asian-Americans by holding them to a higher standard.

DeVos said her department was not involved in that process and added that this has been a question for the courts and the courts have opined.

The Supreme Court last year upheld a University of Texas program that considers race, among other factors, in admissions, offering a narrow victory for affirmative action. A white Texan who was denied admission to the university sued, but the high court said the Texas plan complied with earlier court rulings that allow colleges to consider race in an effort to bolster diversity.

At Americas elite private colleges, many of which have drawn criticism over race-conscious admission policies, incoming classes have become increasingly diverse in recent years.

Asked whether race should play a role in college admissions, DeVos said it is already being considered in the selection process.

Well, they are looking at that, that is a factor today, DeVos said referring to college admissions officers. I am not going to debate that, I am not going to discuss that.

But DeVos said the key to giving students equal access to higher education lies in elementary and secondary school.

It is not fair to think that when students transit through a K-12 system that is not preparing them for beyond, that somehow we are going to waive a magic wand and things are going to be perfect for them at the higher-ed level, DeVos said.

So Ive always said: What we should really be talking about is what are we doing to ensure that every single child no matter their family income, no matter their racial background, no matter their zip code has equal opportunities to access a quality education.

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Education Secretary DeVos says she didn't decry racism enough - Online Athens

LOUISBURG For years, visitors to Louisburgs Wildcat Stadium have had a long walk if they wanted to purchase concessions or use a rest- room. That might not be the case much longer.

USD 416 officials have been actively completing capital improvement projects in the district, including lights for the soccer field at the beginning of last school year, purchasing the districts own bus fleet and a new greenhouse at the high school for this school year.

Members of the board of education recently set their sights on some other projects they would like to see completed in the district, including a concession stand and restroom building that would serve not just the visitor side of the bleachers at football games, but also the soccer field.

Our capital outlay budget is healthy, said Brian Biermann, district superintendent. We dont need a Taj Mahal. We have a nice soccer field now, but have porta-potties and a mobile concession stand. A concession-restroom building could serve a dual purpose as visitors concession and restrooms at football games. We can even look into putting locker rooms there for visiting teams and the soccer teams if you want.

Biermann presented the board with a list containing 20 projects. This is a list the district has been working its way through the past couple of years in an effort to keep ahead of needed projects.

It is hoped that three or four of the projects can be completed this year. Other than the concession stand/restroom building, those projects include the construction of a new exit from the Broadmoor Elementary parking lot to Metcalf near South Eighth Street and the reconfiguration of the sewer line at Broadmoor to eliminate a lift station.

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Louisburg officials consider future capital improvement projects - Miami County Republic